


Death to the Traveler

by eggs_for_ardvarks



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Aftermath of Torture, Explicit Sexual Content, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, M/M, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-20
Updated: 2018-03-20
Packaged: 2019-04-05 07:43:28
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,867
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14039469
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eggs_for_ardvarks/pseuds/eggs_for_ardvarks
Summary: Charged with a crime he didn't commit, tribesman Lance faces public execution. With time slipping through their fingers, his friends hurry to find the invisible criminal. Not guilty and he's a free man. Found guilty and he'll never see Keith again.





	Death to the Traveler

**Author's Note:**

> This has been a thing I've wanted to do for a long time but was always too lazy to do. Please enjoy it and talk to me.

Prince Keith of Altea paced around his room. The sun had set and the wind was blowing cool air off the dark dunes of the desert. Keith wrapped his flowing robe around him tighter, he was awaiting someone due to arrive an hour or so after sundown. However, as unpunctual as the man was, he was almost guaranteed to be waiting more than a few hours. Keith walked to his balcony, shivering at the chilling breeze of the Arabian night. Lance would be here soon, and after not seeing him for nearly three weeks, Keith was more than glad. Keith shook his head at himself. It was what he deserved, falling in love with a traveler as he had. 

Keith looked down at the view of the city that could be seen from his balcony. Lights flickered as countless oil lamps were lit in windows and brought man-made light to the dark desert capital. Despite being openly welcome in the palace, Lance always came through the secret passageways underneath the castle so Keith really had no reason to look for him from the balcony. With one last shudder from a particularly cold gust of wind, Keith turned away from the view and walked across the room to his suite’s bathroom. The white marble shone in the soft lighting and steam rose out of the bath. Keith stripped off his robe, placing it on a rack close by, and climbed into the warm water. 

Keith hadn’t really liked water before he met Lance. Though many of his people loved how its cool caresses felt on their skin, he felt claustrophobic and encased. While going for a swim in a rare oasis was a luxury to his people, Keith prefered to admire the water from a distance under the shade of a palm. Keith sunk lower into the bath, memories of the tan boy with hair that matched his skin flooding his mind. He had missed him a lot more than he would admit to the cocky traveler once he arrived. Keith grabbed a vial of lavender scented oil from the ledge of the bath. He might as well prepare himself for the night ahead. Lance didn’t really like when Keith opened himself up on his own, much preferring to watch or do it himself, but Keith had longed for him for quite some time now and was not very interested in postponing their lovemaking for any longer than he had to. As soon as Keith had coated his fingers with oil, he heard the stone stab that covered the entrance to the passageway scrape open. It was earlier than he had expected but Keith was too excited to take much notice. 

“Of course,” he laughed, making to get out of the bath. “I should have known you’d show up as soon as I even thought of touching myself.”

He stood and the water splashed intimately around his ankles, as if begging him to stay. He turned to grab his robe off of the rack next to the bath, opting not to freeze when he went to greet his lover. The door creaked open quietly. Hard metal connected with the side of his head, and Keith crumpled, the world going black as he fell over the edge of the bath onto the cold marble floor. 

 

Lance whistled as he entered the passageways that twisted their way under the palace. He took a right and kept going, the tune of one of his tribe’s ballads floating from his lips. The passageways were a bit narrow for him with just enough room for two small people to walk side by side. However Lance was not a small person, standing nearly six feet tall and having built up a bit more muscle mass since his coming of age ceremony at eighteen. Keith was going to have his ass when he got up there, scolding him about his lack of timeliness as usual. It would be okay though because he knew that deep down, under all the tough layers, Keith would be glad to see him. Lance sighed before continuing the ballad; it had been too long, and his body ached for the prince.

The further his walked into the passageways, the darker it got. Not that he’s scared of the dark, he wasn’t, especially after how much time he’d spent in the tunnels. This time was different though. The air hung heavy in the passages and Lance’s stomach clenched. He picked up his pace, whistling stopping immediately. Something wasn’t right. A dangerous life with his tribe in the desert had heightened not only his senses but his instincts as well. He forced himself into a run then a sprint, his breathing rapid and his eyes filled with impending fear. He ripped up the tight spiral staircase that led to Keith’s suite. Lance nearly screamed in anger when the stone slab locking him away from his lover wouldn’t open immediately. He recoiled and threw himself up at it again, this time knocking it loose and pushing it up before pulling himself into the room. 

“KEITH!” he called out looking frantically around the room. 

He ran to the bed and ripped the covers off, but it was empty. He had told Keith when he would arrive, hadn’t he? Where was he? Lance threw open the curtains to the balcony. No sign of him. The moon shone through the waving curtains eerily. Becoming desperate, Lance tore across the room towards the bathroom, throwing the door open and immediately regretting it. The mangled body of his lover lay on the floor, covered in a mess of crimson blood, the oozing liquid pooling on the ground and staining the luxurious white marble. Lance dropped to his knees and pulled Keith’s body into his arms. He turned the smaller man over, hoping to see any sign of life. The sight almost made Lance throw up. He started shrieking for help almost instantly. The bloody, swollen slit was cut across Keith’s throat and one eye seemed so disfigured it would be a miracle if he could ever see out of it again. If he even survived that is. Hell, Lance didn’t even know if he was alive at the moment. 

Shiro, the prince’s personal bodyguard was the first to bust through the door. He bolted into the bathroom, eyes growing wide in terror as he took in the sight of the familiar traveler holding the prince’s body close, trying desperately to stop the bleeding from Keith’s slit throat with a scarf from Lance’s own head. The wanderer was covered in dark, drying blood, the prince’s dark, drying blood. Shiro stood frozen for a second, trying to make sense of the scene before him. Lance didn’t stop shrieking even as the sultana and her daughter along with multiple guards ran into the room, gasping and crying out at the sight before them. A few of the guards pried Keith’s body out of Lance’s grasp and rushed him out of the room towards the medical ward. Lance sat there on the ground, bathed in blood, his shrieks coming to a stop as he stared at the empty spot in his arms where he had just held his lover.

The sultana had angry tears running down her face when she pointed a shaking finger at Lance. 

“YOU!” she cried out. “I NEVER SHOULD HAVE LET YOU COME AROUND HERE. BE AROUND MY SON! I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN YOU WOULD TRY TO KILL HIM! I WAS A FOOL!” 

Shiro tried to protest her accusation’s absurdity, but he was silenced immediately. Lance didn’t have the strength to fight back when the guards seized him, tying his arms and dragging him from the suite. All he could see was Keith’s broken, bloodied form. Tears streamed down his face as he was yanked down to the palace’s prison, the feeling of Keith’s blood covering his body making him want to vomit. 

 

“With all due respect, your highness, this is ridiculous!” Shiro argued as he, the sultana, and the princess dashed down the halls towards the medical ward.

“Shut your mouth!” the sultana snapped. “He’s unclean. I was blind and stupid. Having a foreigner in my palace, allowing him to have affairs with my son no less. I should have known that he would take advantage of my kindness. That’s all those wandering rats ever do.”

Shiro held back the immense urge to yell at her. He took a deep breath and slowly counted down from ten. Luckily Princess Allura came to his rescue.

“Mother, think logically! Why would Lance stay in the room if he was the one to do it? Why would he call for help?”

“You are asking me to think like a murderous criminal, Allura!” the sultana’s voice began to rise. “I will not try to understand nor sympathize with the one that attempted to kill the future sultan!” 

Shiro was nearly shaking with rage at the words and the attempt to control himself. As calmly as he could, he excused himself from the group, promising to return to see the prince soon. Shiro rushed away to find a messenger.

“I need you to go as fast as you can to a shop on the outskirts of town. A small stall run by the Autufuga family. They should still be up but if not, wake them. I’m looking for a young man by the name of Hunk. Bring him to the palace prison. He hasn’t done anything wrong, I just need to speak with him. If he asks for names, tell him Shiro needs him on account of Lance. He’ll know who I’m talking about. If he asks for more details tell him this specifically ‘Blue is caged’.”

By the way the messenger’s eyes widened at the name, Shiro assumed that word of the prince’s supposed assailant had already spread around the palace. Not good. Nevertheless, the messenger ran off as fast as his legs could carry him. That done he hurried back up to the medical ward, urgently needing to know something, anything about Keith. 

The medics worked fast, Shiro would have to give them that. Keith lay in a bed covered nearly to the neck by layers of thick, red velvet blankets. His right eye was completely bandaged and his throat was wrapped tightly to try to stop the bleeding. Multiple doctors were injecting medicinal anti inflammatories and painkillers into the prince under the blankets while others rubbed salves into less gruesome wounds.

Allura waved him over from where she sat in a chair to his side. She was holding Keith’s hand and rubbing the back of it, probably more to soothe herself than anyone else. The sultana had already left, probably to discuss the matter with her council. 

“He’s not…” Shiro trailed off not wanting to say the terrible word. “Is he?”

“No, he’s still alive,” Allura assured him, understanding what he was asking with ease. “Barely but he’s alive. My brother’s a fighter, no doubt about that.” 

Shiro laughs nervously, trying to calm himself down. He’d known Keith since he was learning to walk; they’d been close enough to be mistaken for brothers by multiple people. To see him in such a weak state, to see him in so much pain, it was dreadful. 

“I’m so sorry Keith,” he whispered. “I should’ve been there, I should’ve protected you. I’m a sorry excuse for a personal bodyguard.”

Allura gently touched his shoulder. “You couldn’t have known, none of us could have. We’re just lucky that Lance came when he did.”

“Yeah and now his savior is being accused of his murder.”

“He’s an innocent man,” Allura tried to console the guard. “They can’t prove he’s guilty, they’ll have to set him free.” 

“Unless no one can prove he’s innocent. Innocent until proven guilty is a rule that can be bent by power. With no proof on either side, it all comes down to the people testifying. And what is the word of a wanderer against the sultana of Altea?”

Allura’s shoulders dropped and tears began to form in her eyes. “We’ll figure something out, we have to.”

“Did you get anything more out of your mother? You’re probably our best bet when it comes to changing her mind.”

Allura shook her head. “She’s blinded by rage and fear. She seems to think that Lance stayed in the room so it looked like he was the savior. That or he had second thoughts after doing the deed. She’s speaking nonsense. Hopefully her twisted judgement will revert back to normal soon, there’s a life depending on it.”

Shiro nodded his head sadly. Blinding rage wasn’t the easiest thing to clear; from whatever angle they were approaching this, it wasn’t going to be a walk in the park. A gaunt man pushed the door open after a few quiet knocks. 

“He’s arrived.”

 

Hunk rushed into the prison, a blanket under his arm. Though he was initially stopped by the guards, one mention that Shiro had summoned him got them to step aside. One guard led him down the dark stone prison halls to a cell near the back. 

“Lance,” Hunk whispered once the guard dismissed himself. “It’s Hunk, what’s going on?”

Lance’s crumpled form unravelled from its place on the floor. His clothes were dark, taking Hunk by surprise. Lance never wore dark clothes, they weren’t good for desert travel. It all made sense once Lance dragged his tired self into the light. Hunk resisted the urge to vomit as he saw the dried clumps of blood staining Lance’s simple yet beautiful tunic. 

“I didn’t do it, Hunk,” Lance said quietly. “I swear I didn’t try to kill… I would never hurt him.”

“What?!” Hunk voiced as loud as he dared. “What’s going on!? You’d never try to kill whom?!”

“Thank the gods you’re here,” Shiro’s sudden appearance made both Hunk and Lance jump. “There’s a lot you need to know.”

“I should think there is!” Hunk cried out, terror in his voice. “What’s going on?! Who tried to kill who?!”

Shiro ignored Hunk’s questions for a moment while he took hold of the hand Lance had thrust out of the bars. 

“Keith,” the wanderer nearly shouted, his voice filled with terror and apprehension. 

“Alive,” Shiro answered firmly, watching Lance’s shoulders relax slightly. “Fighting and weak but alive.”

“What happened to Keith!?” Hunk bellowed.

“I don’t know much,” Shiro told him. “At this point, Lance probably knows more than I do, but I can tell you what I do know. Lance is in trouble. I’m not sure how much time we have before the sultana’s court decides to start the trial, but if he is found guilty…” he trails off.

“They’ll execute him… publically,” Hunk finished for him, starting to piece things together. 

Shiro nodded grimly. “And right now, with as little evidence as we have, it’s our word against theirs,” he turns to Lance. “Is there anything? Anything at all that could sway our favor.”

Lance shivered but recounted his memory. “I was just going to visit him, probably spend the night, but when I was in the tunnels, something felt off. So I rushed towards Keith’s room as fast as I could and I found him like that. I didn’t do it, Shiro. I swear I didn’t do it!”

“I never thought you did,” Shiro reassured him. Then he grimaced, remembering something a tired medic had said to him. “The doctors said that Keith had been recently sexually active. You hadn’t happened to have met up earlier, had you? Is there anyone else that Keith knows? Another lover perhaps? I know that’s not odd among leaders.”

“There wasn’t anyone else that I was aware of,” Lance told him, eyes widening. “And I hadn’t seen him in nearly three weeks.” He cut off with a broken cry.

“That’s what I was afraid of,” Shiro cringed at the thought. “This just gets worse and worse.”

“So we’re dealing with an assassin, an infiltrator, and now a rapist,” Hunk summed up. 

Shiro nodded and rubbed his eyes. “I can’t believe this is happening.”

Lance collapsed in the cell, curling in on himself. It made Hunk’s heart clench; Lance was a wanderer, a free spirit, a tribesman. He wasn’t meant to be kept in a cage.

“If I was just on time, if I was just on time…” he kept repeating the phrase as his breathing sped up. 

Hunk knelt down as close as the bars would allow. “Here,” he pushed the blanket into the cell. “You should keep this.” 

Lance looked up at him, biting his nails as tears left clean, wet streaks on his grimy face. He took the blanket silently and held it in his lap just staring at it. 

“I’ll get you some new clothes. You shouldn’t have to sit in the prince’s blood,” Shiro told him before walking away to the closest guard. 

Once Lance had changed, a few words were said to each other as the guard shifted. Shiro caught the guard that had been watching over Lance by the arm.

“Nothing leaves this room,” he warned, his mechanical arm clenching the guard’s.

His only answer was a nod.

**Author's Note:**

> Well chapter one is out. I'll try to update every two weeks or so but no promises, especially with my classes taking up as much time as they do. If you liked it, leave kudos and drop a comment! Thanks for reading!


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